RATH - Inception (3 page)

With nightfall less than an hour off, those left for dead out in the open would attract the Andros and he needed to get Chloe as far from the area as possible. He’d witnessed firsthand the devastation wrought when these people moved through an area. They killed without thought or remorse and were much more violent than those of any other colony or district. The world they lived in was ruled without justice or obligatory laws. They were nomads, and spoke only to one another in muted and incoherent tones. They resided along the wastelands, uninhabitable by anyone else. They were also cannibals.

Her face ashen and the palms of her hands already beginning to moisten, Chloe used her free hand to point to the last home on the left side of the street. “We can hide there.”

Still attempting to assess the direction from which the horde was heading, Rath closed his eyes and let the shockwaves of the ravenous crowd move from the earth and through the soles of his boots. The force with which it reverberated his entire body, he figured the numbers to be somewhere north of fifty. He turned back to Chloe. “Can you run?”

Rigid as a rusted hinge, his first few steps were pronounced and deliberate. Chloe had a five stride lead on him by the time they reached the front yard of the home and she appeared to be accelerating. He followed her through the snow covered side yard and watched as she tore off around the stacked firewood and to the back of the home.

His legs burned and his heart raced, less from exhaustion than anticipation. Rath turned the corner and began to slow. Surprisingly, the fire in his shoulder had gone quiet and the pain along his left side antagonized him much less than minutes ago. He almost felt whole, except for the nausea settling in the pit of his stomach.

Stopped between two homes, Rath peered around the corner at the downed main gate and saw the first ten enter the interior and sprint straight for the fallen residents nearest them. This scene had played out too many times for him to assume any other outcome. They were on the bodies, fighting one another for position, and were consumed with the bounty they’d come upon.

Rath watched as two of the largest Andros he’d ever laid eyes on walked calmly through the main entrance. He estimated the smaller of the two at just over seven feet tall. These beasts were well muscled and must have weighed in excess of three hundred pounds each. They appeared to be avoiding eye contact with the others as they carried a gargantuan cast iron grill, two-inch thick handles jutting out from either end. The earth shook and fresh powder billowed away as they dropped it to the ground and pushed the others away from the bodies that they began to stack nearby.

“You’ve got to be kidding; they’re planning on setting up shop here?”

It was time to move. The crowd nearest the center of the district began to spread out in search of additional prey and from the ravenous look displayed among the crowd, Rath sensed their last meal must have been a distant memory. Turning back to check on Chloe, he was surprised to find she’d already found a place to hide and was waving him over.

The former underground shelter and makeshift cellar must have been used by the children of this District as their hideout. Off-centered, hand-drawn pictures hung on the wall without a care of placement or uniformity. Brightly colored plastic cups from decades past sat along the table, whose legs had been cut off to accommodate the smaller bodies of the youths of the town, and simple lesson plans were scribbled on the wall nearest the entrance. This area was obviously designed by children.

Sitting on the fourth step, Rath paused before closing and securing the hatch as Chloe paced nervously back and forth across the ten foot square room. He watched as three smaller Andros entered the side yard and moved in their direction. Sealing and double bolting the hatch, the interior lights blinked to life and he could see she’d again begun to silently cry; her heaving back told him just enough of the story.

Thirty seconds. Not enough time for anything other than a defensive posture. Eight to ten of those things out in the open and one at a time gave him pause, although with well over fifty, he’d ride this one out hidden below ground with his new friend. “Chloe… I need you to stop crying right now. I know you’re scared, but those things can hear us and we need to stay as quiet as possible, at least until they leave.”
She wiped her face and moved back into the light spilling across the middle of the square room. “I’m not scared. Those things don’t scare me.”

Rath assumed this was her attempt at showing him how brave she could be. He’d seen it in the eyes and on the faces of the children in his own District many times before, especially when the cold came through. He knew it was only a matter of time before she broke down and the frightened little girl in her surfaced. “It’s okay to be scared of those things. It’s what will keep us alive.”

Chloe signed heavily. “Sir… I’m really not scared. My mother told me you would save me. I was scared before, but when you found me in the trees, I knew she was right.”

He scratched his head and as he began to respond, the rapid footfalls overhead halted his words before they were voiced. He simply leaned in and held his index finger over his mouth. Chloe nodded, acknowledging that she understood, and sat at the table massaging her eyes, the red streaks evident as she removed her hands.

They sat in silence for what seemed an eternity as the trio in the yard above moved through the area, twice shuffling across the grass covered hatch above. With little more than a passing curiosity for the homemade jungle gym set farther back on the property, the Andros made quick work of the backyard and reconvened near the house. Within five minutes, they’d cleared the area and moved to the home next door.

With no indication of movement within the last thirty minutes, Rath slowly released the locks and opened the hatch door a few inches, just enough to scan the area. The heavy snowfall from only an hour ago had given way to nightfall and with it a mere three-inch drift atop the grassy landscape, backdropped against the carbon black twilight sky.

Having long since lost interest in anything outside the four concrete walls keeping her safe, Chloe had turned inward and had started to scribble away at the only piece of paper she could find. She hadn’t noticed him trying to get a glimpse of what it was until he stepped away from the short staircase.

“I think we’re okay now. They probably won’t come back here tonight, whadda ya drawing?”

Chloe twisted to the right and covered the picture, her cheeks bright red, and for the first time a smile slid across her face. “Nothing…I’m just… just writing some stuff.”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to her earlier answer than he knew. “Chloe…”

“Yes, sir?”

“Chloe, my friends call me Rath. You are my friend, right?

“Yeah.”

“Good… earlier you said that you weren’t afraid.”

“Uh huh?”

“And you said your mother told you that I would help?”

“When those bad people came from the sky and took her away, she told me not to be scared. She said someone would come find me and take care of me.” Chloe folded the piece of paper, shoved it in her backpack, and turned back to him. “I’m not afraid of those bad people. You are good and my dad told me before that good always wins.”

Rath kneeled down beside her. “I thought because you were crying earlier, that—”

“I was crying because I miss her.”

“Your mother?”

“Yes.”

More than a few hours had passed as he sat in darkness watching her sleep. The cramped underground concrete box held the cold at bay just enough that he was able to remove his thick down overcoat and lay it across Chloe. She hadn’t moved since he turned down the lights and she’d crawled onto the makeshift cot in the opposite corner. Only her slight whimpers and the thoughts of what was happening less than a hundred yards away kept him from nodding off.

The events taking place in center of District Two forced him to stay put for the moment. He’d have to get her out of here at some point, although heading over the west wall without anything but the clothes on their backs was a certain death sentence. Rath closed his eyes and rested his head against the rutted concrete wall. The realization of what he needed to do accentuated the already hopeless situation he’d found himself in.

Before losing his wife, he and Sarah had been awake for just over a day and a half. They prayed the next District they came across on their journey west would be spared whatever devastation befell theirs and many others. His eyelids, like heavy warehouse doors, blinked closed more than a few times. With less than six hours before sunrise, the welcoming hand of slumber descended upon him.

Sarah’s face was the first he recognized as the warmth enveloped him.

.      .      .

The first time in two hundred eighty days that the sun touched the back of his neck couldn’t have come at a more appropriate moment. July had rarely brought more than two or three days of temperatures above sixty degrees since the day the earth’s orbit was forever altered. Most of those still drawing breath today were born long after the events that changed the face of humanity in ways few could understand. The long strands of sunlight fell from the sky and filtered around her silhouette, warming the earth where it found its home. An afternoon this perfect may have been a regular occurrence thirty-two years ago, although today he understood its absolute rarity. It would be a sin to let its perfection slide into tomorrow without taking advantage of it.

Sarah sat atop the swing he’d built on the front porch of their home. Her perfectly shaped golden brown calves folded under as she held tightly to the left armrest he’d carved her name into. The day spent creating something that unlocked her smile was a day well spent. The intricate details he’d spent hours sculpting into the single piece of untreated southern yellow pine, ran a distant second to the beauty that was his wife. It took him twelve separate days outside the security of the walls of District Nine to secure the piece of wood suitable for his project, although it took him nearly thirty years to find her. She was worth every second.

Rath stepped from the shadow of the low overhang and pointed to the gate. “Let’s go!”

Sarah narrowed her eyes, matching his gaze. “What… go where?”

“The river, I’m sure it’s flowing today. It has to be. Last time I was out, it was so close and today is the day.”

The contentment of only minutes ago leaving her smile, Sarah shook her head. “Are you serious? The last time you went that far you almost left me a widow and you had eight other men with you… who all had weapons.”

Rath ached to convince her that this was a good idea, even though he knew she was right. The thoughts of how dangerous it would be outside the gates were clouded by his yearning to create a memory as beautiful as she was. “We can go for just a few—”

“Andros,” she said. “Forty-one is what you told me. What’s the plan going to be if we’re sitting by the shore, drinking lemonade, and forty Andros show up and they’re ready to eat?”

“I’ll tell them to talk to you for five minutes… I think they’ll end up losing their appetite.”

“Very funny; you know as well as I do that the wall surrounding this District and the men behind it with weapons are the reason we can live a halfway normal life. There’s no reason to play with fate.”

“Yes, darling I know. I’m one of the men keeping this place safe and realize how serious it is, but I wanted to make this day perfect.”

Sarah’s smile returned. This time much deeper. “It’s already perfect.”

Her voice began to trail off, soft and distant. He could no longer make out her features, only a vague profile of her face.

.      .      .

Her tiny hand tugging at his sleeve, he’d slept longer than he wanted to, although less than he needed. “I’m awake, I’m awake.”

Stepping back, Chloe handed Rath his jacket. “I’m hungry.”

The pressure against the right side of his head built into a slow pounding beat. He used both hands to drive the sleep away from his face and pushed his thick black hair away from his eyes. The thought of food, contrasted against what he’d have to do to get it, added to the pressure building at the back of his neck. “How long have you been awake?”

She grimaced. “I don’t know, sir.”

“Chloe, you can call me—”

“Sorry,” Chloe said shaking her head. “Mr. Rath, I don’t know, but I am really hungry.”

As Chloe moved back to the cot, Rath sat forward, stretching the effects of yesterday’s events out of his battered joints. “Me too… I could eat a horse.”

Confused, Chloe turned from her backpack. “Eat a what?”

“It’s a figure of speech,” he said, a slight grin moving across his face. “I’m just agreeing with you. I’m really hungry as well.”

The exit stood between the two and Rath leaned in, holding his hand in front of the handle as Chloe moved to the overhead door. He asked, “What are you doing?”

Again looking confused, Chloe sat on the third step, near eye level with Rath as she formed her response. “Mr. Rath, this is my backyard and my house is right there. My mom has food in the kitchen and I’m going to get it. You can come with me. I’m gonna need some help reaching the bowls.”

Rath finished working the stiffness out of his neck and arms and began sliding his pack on. “Sweetheart, there’s no way you’re going outside. We were very lucky that we weren’t found last night and if those men are close by, they may find us if we both go out. You need to stay put. I’ll get inside and get us something to eat. Okay?”

“My mom said you would save me and keep me away from those men. I told you I’m not afraid.”

“Those people… you need to be afraid of them. It’s what is going to keep you and I alive. You need to stay here and keep very quiet.”

“Mr. Rath,” she said stepping away from the stairs. “You promise you’ll come back?”

He pushed the remaining three pieces of blank paper and a few colored pencils across the table and making his way to the exit hatch said, “Draw me a picture and before you’re done, I’ll be back… I promise.”

As Rath broke the seal and yesterday’s snowpack fluttered through the void, Chloe whispered, “I already finished your picture.”